Trust At Risk: Who's Accountable For The Online Safety Gap?

As debates around balancing digital protections with individual freedoms intensify, the first of our Code≠Law series exploring the rules governing technology offers insights on how to comply with global regulations

Governments around the world have committed to tackling online safety, charging regulators with drafting and enforcing new rules protecting users, particularly children. The challenge has been to do so without compromising freedom of speech, innovation or investment in new technologies, while also carefully balancing privacy and data security concerns.

It has proved a difficult mandate: rather than retaining focus on its positive intent, the topic has become a political battleground. Much of the debate has also centred on discrete and controversial parts of a wider regulatory mission which will impact many businesses, not just the social media, messaging and search engine platforms provided by Big Tech.